He flipped on the annunciator. "Is Mr. Percy here yet?"
"Yes. He's due here any minute to see me. Have there been any calls?"
"Quite a few. I've relayed them down to Mr. Eglin's office, as instructed."
"Oh, Mr. Percy's here. And there's a call for you from communications."
Walton frowned. "Tell Percy to wait outside a minute or two. Give me the call."
The communications tech on the screen was grinning excitedly. He said, "Subspace message just came in for you, sir."
The technician read, "'To Walton from McLeod, via subspace radio: Have made successful voyage to Procyon system, and am on way back with Dirnan ambassador on board. See you soon, and good luck--you'll need it.'"
"Okay. Keep me posted." He broke contact and turned to the annunciator. Excitement put a faint quiver in his voice. "You can send in Mr. Percy now," he said.
Walton looked up at the public relations man and said, "How much do you know about kaleidowhirls, Lee?"
"Not a hell of a lot. I never watch the things, myself. They're bad for the eyes."
Walton smiled. "That makes you a nonconformist, doesn't it? According to the figures I have here, the nightly kaleidowhirl programs are top-ranked on the rating charts."
"Maybe so," Percy said cautiously. "I still don't like to watch them. What goes, Roy?"
"I've suddenly become very interested in kaleidowhirls myself," Walton said. He leaned back and added casually, "I think they can be used as propaganda devices. My brother's reaction to one gave me the idea, couple days ago, at the Bronze Room. For the past hour or so, I've been studying kaleidowhirls in terms of information theory. Did you know that it's possible to get messages across via kaleidowhirl?"
"Of course," Percy gasped. "But the Communications Commission would never let you get away with it!"
"By the time the Communications Commission found out what had been done," Walton said calmly, "we wouldn't be doing it any more. They won't be able to prove a thing." Sarcastically he added, "After spending a lifetime in public relations, you're not suddenly getting a rush of ethics, are you?"
"Simple enough," Walton said. "We feed through a verbal message--something like _Hooray for Popeek_ or _I Don't Want War With Dirna_. We flash it on the screen for, say, a microsecond, then cover it up with kaleidowhirl patterns. Wait two minutes, then flash it again. Plenty of noise, but the signal will get through if we flash it often enough."